Board of Education Conducts Preliminary Audit Discussion

By JENNIFER DERICKS

November 19, 2013 at 1:15 AM

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SPARTA, NJ - At the Sparta Board of Education work session on Monday night there was a brief discussion about the audit of the 2012-2013 budget by the auditing firm, Nisivoccia,LLP. Jack Sordoval, chairman of the Finance committee introduced the topic saying they had reviewed a draft of the audit in committee and that it is available for all board members to review.

The preliminary discussion revealed there will be two recommendations, which is typical. One of the recommendations involves tracking a transfer made to the County Superintendent's office and the other deals with the district management of Capital ID tags.

Sparta Business Administrator Linda Alvarez explained that with all of the redistricting that has taken place in the past few years they have made a big effort to track all of the district capital inventory. Regarding the transfer, Alvarez indicated they would be following up with the county office to "see what happened."

Surdoval revealed preliminary surplus figures. "Last year the board indicated they wanted to maintain a budget surplus of $1 million." Current amounts are "a total of $1.678 million with $500 thousand scheduled to go to Capital Surplus and $500 to Maintenance Surplus, leaving an Excess Surplus balance of $678 thousand." Surdoval added, "the board indicated the excess surplus would be used to offset expenditures in the '14-'15 budget as has been done in the past." He further stated that the board had not yet decided if they intended to increase the excess surplus amount to be rolled-over for next year, in order to reach the $1 million goal. This would be accomplished by reducing the funds in the Capital and Maintenance Surplus accounts.

Another area of the budget that showed an excess surplus was the Insurance Rate Stabilization Reserve Account or RSR. Surdoval reported the left over funds in that account is approximately $2.2 million. Of that amount, $138 thousand can be moved to the general fund-operating account. The RSR account is maintained to be sure there are sufficient funds available necessary to cover district insurance obligations, especially in the face of catastrophic, unanticipated claims.

Kathryn Mantell, auditor from Nisivoccia, will attend the December meeting to give a public presentation of the full audit.

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